The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time--Ramsey

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and published by
Vintage Contemporaries; 1st edition (May 18, 2004). Ok, so this story is about a kid named Christopher Boone who is 15 years old and lives in a small suburb in Britain called Swindon. This boy is super smart, like listen to this kid introduce himself “My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and prime numbers up to 7,057.” Yea the kid is logical, VERY logical, he doesn't understand anything that isn't literal and doesn't understand feelings. Christopher is autistic which is shown with how he deals with people touching him, loud noises, etc. His dad Ed Boone is a loving parent who honestly is the perfect parent for Chris but does a couple of things and becomes the antagonist. His Mom Judy Boone also loves Chris but has a hard time dealing with Chris's symptoms. She really tries but isn't really the best parent. Chris’s characteristics help convey the messages that Haddon left in the story. Chris fears the world and lives covered in a blanket, never stepping out of his comfort zone. He will be forced to do so in the story and he handles it just like any of us would; paralyzed with fear. The blanket that Chris has lived in leads him to his perspective of the world which his vastly different from most. It's ironic because he is a Sherlock Holmes when it comes to observing from his surroundings but his lack of emotion limits him when interpreting a situation to only so much. Chris is lied to and when it comes to light what's happened he can't deal with his feelings. So much of his life is built on these lies so when they are exposed it immediately coincides with and furthers the other themes of perspective and fear. I absolutely love this book from the plot to the writing style. Ok so starting with the writing style, it's so basic, in the story Chris writes it as a journal and Chris is blunt, straight to the point and all description is easy to understand, little analyzing involved to just get through the story. Mostly because when he does describe things it's never figurative and when he feels like getting fancy on the reader uses analogies that everyone can relate to. The plot which totally catches the reader and certainly Chris off-guard is well written, believable, and nicely paced. It starts off with Chris looking at his neighbor's dog. He's dead with a pitchfork in him. Just to note: the story isn't dark despite that opening scene. Chris then investigates who killed the dog, Wellington, in doing so he discovers so much more about his life and the lives of others. Then the characters have such a nice development. Chris’s Father, Ed, easily my favorite when it comes to character writing who seems like such a solid parent and then in a very believable manner, becomes the antagonist. The line gets very blurred by the end how you feel about him, but it's great. Mrs. Shears is another character in the story who doesn't come out much but by the end, if you tried to look at this story from her perspective leaves up so much to the mind of how she felt. Then there is Chris who goes through a lot, learns from these experiences; he maintains his character despite what happens. Chris honestly is almost just a tool in showcasing the themes of the story. I liked the themes and was able to relate to them. Now I hesitate to say this because I really don't like the book but it's like The Catcher in the Rye . Chris is kind of whiny, goes on his own adventures and learns about life and growing up. The difference between the two is just that this one spoke to me much more and wasn't as dark or annoying as Holden. Chris experiences more instead of talking more which annoyed me about Holden ( Just call jane already)and the viewpoints left in the story, I agreed with a lot more. I thought it was a great book easily top 5 books I've ever read, maybe even top 3 I haven't thought about ranking them that much, but it's up there. I haven't read many books outside of school, but I feel like I'm not going to find much better than this. So I recommend it... Ramsey approved. 10 out of ten would do again.